I’ve seen an inordinate amount of hate going around tumblr and twitter in the past few weeks, and it’s been getting on my nerves. I’ve seen things along the lines of a person who is a fan of the Bella Twins AND Kelly Kelly AND Eve Torres say that A.J. is, has always been, and always will be a joke. Yes, you read that right – that statement came from someone who is a fan of the Bella Twins, Kelly Kelly, and Eve Torres. (Ok, maybe Eve was ok, but that still leaves the Bellas and Kelly.)

The irony. The Bella Twins are talentless pieces of trash that have jobs because of who they’re married to or dating. They can’t win a match without switching, which isn’t even possible anymore because Nikki got a boob job. The truth about the Bellas is that one has no talent, and the other, well the other has less. I used to say that I couldn’t tell which was which, but Brie is definitely the one with more, thus she has none. But being married to Daniel Bryan makes it nearly impossible to be as bad as she used to be. Nikki, on the other hand, has some delusion that she’s a power wrestler, and that the proper name for her finisher should be something related to her boobs. Regardless of the fact that Brie has indeed improved – the sad fact is that neither of them would have had to to maintain their jobs.

As far as Kelly Kelly was concerned, she screamed constantly during her matches to the point that they were unwatchable. I won’t say she was awful or anything in the ring, because compared to others, she was ok. But her awful, constant screaming, and perhaps one of the worst themes in wrestling history, make it difficult to want to watch her. And also, when a diva rolls out of the ring from the corner to avoid a stinkface, Kelly, the proper reaction is NOT screaming Come On! at them. What? Do you think that girl wanted you to rub your ass in her face or something? LOL. Congrats on thinking that your opponent was readily agreeing to take offense from you – your opponent wants to win the match. They want to defeat you. They want to get offense on you and then pin you. They aren’t going to be agreeable to you rubbing your ass in her face. Sorry.

I see things on here about A.J. being a joke, or whatever it may be, and it’s just funny how clouded people’s judgment really is. Are people so blind by face and heel that they think all heels legitimately suck because they don’t suck up to fans? Is it still real to you, damnit?

If you were paying attention the past few years, you’d have seen A.J. become the first diva to become relevant in YEARS. She’s the first diva to become legitimately popular since at least Mickie James. I’d reckon she’s even more popular than Mickie. I’d go back to Lita, or everyone’s apparent favorite Trish. (Which is stupid considering Lita has always been better than Trish.)

When A.J. talks about saving the divas division – that’s both true and misleading. She did save the divas division, because she’s been carrying it for over a year. Unfortunately, that’s misleading, considering she has had no legitimate competition from the time Kaitlyn seemed to disappear after their feud until the time Paige debuted.

I’m not saying Kaitlyn was amazing, but she was good, and her and A.J.’s feud, although too brief, was the first legitimate feud between divas that was interesting since Trish vs. Mickie. It takes two women to make that possible, and thus credit must be given to both. That feud should’ve lasted longer. A.J. should’ve remained champion, but it deserved better than one rematch and then a mixed tag match at SummerSlam.

After that, the only real competition for A.J. was Natalya, even though her promos were super-douchey. She also apparently blocks people on Twitter for simply being a fan of A.J. Being on a crappy reality show doesn’t make you better than the champion, even though WWE would have you believe as such.

I don’t understand how people can be so delusional to think that A.J. sucks because she is a heel. Granted, I did the same kind of thing when I was a younger and dumber wrestling fan (I thought Chris Jericho was boring at one point. Yea, I was pretty stupid.) but it still baffles me. I probably would’ve hated 14 year old wrestling fan me, at least in part.

I’ve seen posts recently that A.J. left WWE just like Punk did solely because she’s engaged to Punk. Fools. AJ and Punk are two different people, and just because she’s marrying someone who left, doesn’t mean she will do the same. A.J. also isn’t in the same position that Punk is. She’s a relative newcomer to the business compared to Punk. Punk doesn’t need WWE, WWE needs him. A.J. isn’t in that kind of boat, unless she’s going to live off of the money Punk has or something – she doesn’t strike me as that kind of person. Anyways, more on Punk later.

I’ve seen a report here and there that A.J. legit told Stephanie McMahon to fuck off and walked out, but those reports are clearly fake. The sad part is the some people believe them, and have started calling A.J. a bitch (more vulgar words were used). Do you not see that the person who wrote this report is just saying this because she is engaged to someone who did something like that? WHY DO YOU THINK THIS IS TRUE? I could’ve written that, doesn’t mean it’s true.

People think that A.J. left or Punk is back because of a Raw script that has them both listed as injured. Yes, because those totally mean the same thing. Del Rio was listed as the same and he was on the show.

But the people who responded to these posts said things like “It’s about time she left.” What kind of comment is that? So because you don’t like her, that means she shouldn’t be employed? I’m not saying you have to like her – it’s not my problem if you choose not to like one of the only women on the roster with actual talent – if you enjoy trash to mediocrity, that’s your prerogative. But that doesn’t mean she should no longer be employed.

By that logic, every one you don’t like – every heel – shouldn’t have a job. Ok, fire all the heels, and see what happens. WWE would go out of business. You can’t have wrestling without both faces and heels. Wrestling is about good guys vs. bad guys. If you suddenly had only good guys, you wouldn’t ever have a single match. So, yes, A.J.’s existence is a necessity.

A.J. has carried the division for months, and now Paige has finally arrived. Unfortunately AJ is taking time off – hopefully it’s brief – so perhaps the best women’s feud since either Trish/Lita or Trish/Mickie can’t happen for a little longer. I hope AJ’s back right after Extreme Rules – I’d love the first match to be at Payback, considering I’ll be there.

And to show I’m not just berating divas of the modern era as not being better than AJ, I’ll say this – A.J. is better than Trish Stratus. Yep. She is. People seem to think Trish was the best, but in all honesty, they’re saying that because she was maybe the best combination of wrestling ability, blonde, and huge boobs that they could find. Lita and Mickie James are both better than Trish, as well. Trish isn’t bad, but people overrate her because of how she looks – and as far as I’m concerned, AJ is far more attractive than Trish ever was. I guess it’s your choice to think that someone so completely fake is attractive, but, well – that speaks for itself.

Please stop deluding yourself into thinking that a Bella Twin deserves the Divas Title. A.J. single-handedly brought that belt back from the depths of hell, basically – that belt had gotten so bad, it had gone from being the Second Rate Women’s Championship (What it was when it was created) all the way to the Fourth Rate Women’s Championship (What it became when Kelly won it, or maybe even the Bellas before her), and now, because of A.J., it’s back at Second Rate. She didn’t get the two full jumps herself – I think it went to third rate when Beth won it from Kelly, then managed to fall to Third and a Half Rate when Eve got it, and back to Third Rate when Kaitlyn won it. A.J. won it, and after having the longest reign in championship history, it went back to Second Rate. That’s all A.J. right there. (It can’t be better than Second Rate, because it’s the Second Rate Women’s Championship since it’s not the legit Women’s Championship.)

When A.J. returns, we’re headed towards the best women’s matches in WWE we’ve seen in years. A.J. vs. Kaitlyn at Payback was great, but this will far surpass it. Again, Kaitlyn was good, but she’s no Paige. And if you have Emma and/or Natalya in this at some point, it will only be better.

With that being said, I also want to talk about C.M. Punk for a few minutes here.

For one, I’ve seen a number of people keep saying that he walked out on the fans. At what point did he walk out on the fans? He walked out on the company. He didn’t walk out on you. (Well, unless you’re part of the company. But you’re not.) He walked out on the company because, despite being the best star in the company (Still better than Bryan, despite Bryan being more over, sorry), they still did not give him what he deserved. If you think Punk didn’t deserve the main event of WM (maybe not WM30, but a WM), then you are delusional and borderline psychotic. There’s no good reason he didn’t main event WM29. Rock vs. Cena II should’ve been a triple threat match. That much is an undeniable fact. If The Miz gets a WM Main event, then pretty much anyone can have one.

So you guys can stop with saying he walked out on the fans because he walked out on Vince and Triple H. Last time I checked those are not the fans. With that being said, the fans that are still chanting C.M. Punk at shows need to shut the fuck up. He’s gone. Get over it. Move the fuck on. There are plenty of other talents in WWE worth your time. Do I want C.M. Punk back? You’re fucking right I do. But chanting his name every week is useless. Unless there’s something completely awful happening – like Hornswoggle vs. El Torito – pay attention and watch the match.

I’m sorry to burst your bubble of hate, but WWE is pretty freaking good right now. Bryan won the title, which everyone wanted. Be happy. Paige is up from NXT. Be happy. Cesaro is being pushed, Shield vs. Evolution. THINGS ARE GOOD. If you’re butthurt that Taker lost, fuck off already. It’s time for the future, not the past. And stop having We Want Sting signs. WE DON’T WANT STING. You can’t complain about there never being anything fresh or exciting and also want Sting.

And another thing, to the one fan on Twitter who claimed that C.M. Punk and AJ were behind her in line at Target, and that when she recognized Punk and Punk realized that she recognized him, that he proceeded to hide from her, to which she is now no longer a fan because he was “rude,” go fuck yourself.

First off, if you read Punk’s twitter bio, in which he says he’s a jerk, what were you expecting? The nicest person in the world?

Here’s the deal, all of you morons with a grand sense of entitlement, Punk doesn’t owe you anything. This goes for any random celebrity you may happen to stumble across on the street, too, but we’re just using Punk as an example considering he’s the one being accosted. Your favorite celebrities don’t actually owe you anything. Just because you are a fan of their work on tv, in movies, or their music, or whatever the case may be, they do not owe you anything. If they don’t want to be bothered by people in public, then that’s their right. If you went up to a person not on tv and bugged them, and they told you to go away, you wouldn’t care, would you? So the fact that person IS on tv means they HAVE to talk to you? Nope.

People have a right to their privacy, celebrities and non-celebrities alike. If you aren’t a fan of a wrestler because he’s rude to you in public, you were never a fan of his to begin with. To be a fan of a wrestler, you need to be a fan of his character, and how he performs in the ring – you do not need to be a fan of how he acts outside of work. His kindness outside of work has nothing to do with how good he is at his job – you are a fan because of how good he is at his job. The opposite of this is also true – I hate John Cena the character, and most of his matches. I don’t hate John Cena the man. They are two different things.

He doesn’t owe you an autograph. He doesn’t owe you a picture. He doesn’t even owe you a hello. (Now, if you were at a convention and paid for an autograph, and he went and hid, that would be a different story. But you didn’t pay, so he doesn’t owe you.) If you had any respect for him, you would respect his privacy. Anyone who’s a real fan of C.M. Punk knows he doesn’t like fans pestering him. Sure, there are good days and bad, and some days I’m sure he does sign, and some days he doesn’t. This person caught him on a bad day, obviously. And, I mean, he walked out on the company two months ago – you think he wants to be pestered by a fan and potentially be bombarded with questions about why he left? Try using a modicum of thought next time you judge.

If you’re an actual fan of Punk, you know the stories of people asking him for an autograph at a funeral. You know the story of people asking him for an autograph at a urinal. You know the story of how someone went up to him, pulled his earphones out of his ears, and asked him for an autograph. You know the story of the person who saw him running down the streets of Chicago and punched him to get his attention. WHY ARE YOU SURPRISED THAT HE DOESN’T LIKE BEING PESTERED?

I had a coworker who had a friend who works/worked at O’Hare airport, and he said he saw Punk there at least five times and he blew him off for an autograph each time, or something.

Do you guys know how much Punk hates flying? Do you realize that, next to a funeral and a urinal, the airport is probably the worst place to bug him? LOL. Just look on Twitter – there’s plenty of tirades about United Airlines.

Well, it’s finally the best time of year again – that’s right, the Stanley Cup Playoffs. What’s that? You think the NFL or NBA Playoffs are better?

Can we stop for a moment to comment about how dumb this new playoff format is? Because it’s pretty freaking dumb. This whole conference realignment was a botch. All they needed to do was switch Nashville with Winnipeg, or move Winnipeg, Minnesota, and Nashville, but NO, the league bows to its master of Detroit and allows them the Eastern Conference spot they think they so richly deserve. That’s ok. The previous format was far superior – this format’s going to be boring by next year when we keep having the same matchups.

Also, since this is is the first time I’m writing these on WordPress instead of Xanga, I may separate the predictions into four separate posts instead of one long entry, like I normally do. Also, since it’s also public, it’s forced to have a more logical title than a music lyric that I would use that would fit the bill.

Also, with each passing year, it seems I get to watch less and less of the games and am forced to listen on the radio or not at all, and I haven’t even watched highlights for most of this season outside of the Hawks, Sharks, and Leafs, so hopefully that won’t hinder the post too much. I really don’t enjoy listening to games either – I may know what’s going on in general, but it never paints an accurate enough picture to know what’s going on, and why things are or are not working. That’s really only going to come into play when talking about the Hawks, though.

I don’t really want to separate these by conference with markers like I used to, because now there’s four conferences, with stupid names in some instances, and weird locations for teams in others. And the wild card thing is dumb. Again, top 8 was pretty simple, I don’t understand. Just know that in future rounds, the winners of the first two matchups spoken about will play each other in the next round, and so on, down.

(1) Boston Bruins vs. (WC2) Detroit Red Wings

The Boston Bruins won the President’s Trophy this season, and, regardless of had they won that, they are probably my odds on favorite to win the Cup this season. It’s hard to argue with that when the team goes on a ten game winning streak near the end of the year. You can talk about the President’s Trophy curse thing all you want – it didn’t matter to the Hawks, and I can’t see the Bruins being the kind of team to fall to it either. And if the Bruins do end up winning – hey, at least Iginla gets a ring.

The Detroit Red Wings managed a playoff spot basically because the Toronto Maple Leafs choked at the end of the season, losing eight in a row in March. Detroit played mediocre at best all season after having to deal with many injuries. I’m very disappointed with Toronto, both because my third team failed and missed the playoffs, but also because they’ve allowed Detroit’s precious playoff streak thingy that they seem to love talking about these days to carry on, because from what it sounds like they think it’s more important than the Stanley Cup itself.

As far as predictions go – while I think Detroit will put up quite the fight, like they did to Chicago last year, it’s nearly impossible to say that Boston won’t defeat them, especially if they don’t have everyone back from injury.

(2) Tampa Bay Lightning vs. (3) Montreal Canadiens

Nice to see Tampa Bay back in the playoffs, after two years I believe? That could be wrong. Honestly I haven’t really been following their season all that much, so there’s not much to say outside of the fact that they beat the Hawks twice. That and the Marty St. Louis trade and whatnot.

I can’t say too much about the Canadiens either, for the same reason. The less I get to watch or pay attention, the more the east gets neglected, considering I only like Toronto (and Boston sometimes), and Pittsburgh is shoved down everyone’s throats so you kind of know without really wanting to.

As far as the matchup itself goes – I think they’ve got something between them where someone on Montreal (Brandon Prust?) went after the Lightning’s goalie Ben Bishop during a break or something. I don’t know. I’m predicting Montreal to win.

(1) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (WC1) Columbus Blue Jackets

The Pittsburgh Penguins continue to be the Pittsburgh Penguins. That’s legitimately all I have to say about them. If you watch hockey, you all know how wonderful they are because you never stop hearing about it.

The Columbus Blue Jackets made it to the playoffs for the second time in franchise history, presumably because they played as well as they did near the end of last season and are in the easier conference. But considering we only play them twice, I know less about them than usual.

I predict Pittsburgh to win, but if the Jackets manage to pull it off, I wouldn’t be surprised. But I am hoping for a Pittsburgh/Philadelphia matchup because those are always shitshows.

(2) New York Rangers vs. (3) Philadelphia Flyers

The New York Rangers started off the season pretty terribly, and that’s all I’ve really paid attention to them all season.

The Philadelphia Flyers also did terribly in the beginning of the season, but managed to make the playoffs after a much better rest of it. (Wow, I’m so good at these things. So much insight!)

I feel like New York either always plays the Flyers or Capitals every year. I’m so tired of it. If Lundqvist can play up to his standards, then the Rangers will probably win, but I do want a Pens/Flyers series as I’ve said.

(1) Anaheim Ducks vs. (WC2) Dallas Stars

The Anaheim Ducks won the Western Conference after St. Louis decided to choke in their last six games, when it looked so much like the Blues would win the President’s Trophy.

The Dallas Stars have made the playoffs for the first time since around 2008. Good for them, I guess. Antoine Roussell is still a douchebag, though.

Anaheim to win. Not expecting much out of this, really.

(2) San Jose Sharks vs. (3) Los Angeles Kings

The San Jose Sharks have had a really good season, although I feel like that, no matter how good they are in recent years, they often get overlooked in more recent years considering how good they almost always are in still lost. One of these days, they’ll get there. Hopefully Raffi Torres isn’t on the team when that happens.

The Los Angeles Kings can be as good as they have been in recent memory, as long as Johnathan Quick can be as good as he normally is.

This series is one that’s happened a few times in recent years, and both have been pretty fun. I’m looking forward to this one perhaps the most. Last year was one of those “Home team always wins” kind of deals, so you knew the winner going into game 7. If that’s how it’s going to be this year, then SJ will win. And I think they will, regardless of that.

(1) Colorado Avalanche vs. (WC1) Minnesota Wild

Well, I have to hand it to Colorado – somehow they went from last season’s mediocre at best team to winning the Central. Part of that has to to do with STL choking, too, of course, but even if that hadn’t happened, they’d have still gotten second, which is still a testament to their hard work. It still baffles me how last year’s team + Nathan MacKinnon + Patrick Roy as coach = 1st in the central, because that’s somewhat ridiculous. They’re reaching levels of overrated that I do not like. Right now, they’re probably the team I hate most that’s in the playoffs, considering how amazing they think they are, the Canucks were terrible and didn’t make it (HA), and they employ a woman-beater as their goalie.

Despite those big offseason acquisitions a couple years ago, Minnesota still struggles to make it much higher in the standings, and now Bryzgalov is their goalie.

Colorado wins.

(2) St. Louis Blues vs. (3) Chicago Blackhawks

Another year, another time everyone touts the St. Louis Blues as an incredible team that’s going to win the Cup. And another year, they show signs that they aren’t as good as they, and everyone, seem to think they are. Losing the last six games going into the playoffs? What a Cup Contender. Defense wins championships, yes, and STL has plenty, but with no goals you can’t do that. Their offense has been dwindling lately, and if Oshie and Backes are out, that will spell trouble. In the end, STL is a dirty team that looks to injure as many as possible, and when they can’t win, you’d better keep your head up. When it comes down to it, St. Louis is the hockey version of Ryback. They even have a Ryan Reaves on their team.

The Chicago Blackhawks have had an…interesting season. They’ve had flashes of brilliance at times, and flashes of borderline mediocrity at others. It seems that when they’re ready to play, no one can stop them. But if they aren’t, then everything fails. Many times this year have the Hawks gone down several goals, and many times they’ve come back – a lot of those times though, they still lost in OT or a shootout. We went to OT or a shootout 20+ this season, six times have we won. The only OT winner came in game 80. Despite that, the Hawks lost both Kane and Toews to injuries near the end of the season, and without them, they went on a four game winning streak, before losing the last two games of the season – those two games were meaningless, though, and tons of random AHL’ers were playing, so it doesn’t really count. Losing Toews and Kane, who will be back on Thursday when it’s time for game one, may prove to be the best thing that’s happened to this team. It may have lit a fire under the rest of them that will continue to burn once the playoffs begin, and Toews and Kane will no doubt follow suit. With a reinvigorated, healthy lineup, the Hawks can go as far as they so desire in the playoffs. They certainly have the talent. There’s no reason that they can’t win the Cup again – the question, as always, is will they?

As far as this series goes, it will be a tough one. While STL won the season series (STL is 3-2-0, CHI is 2-1-2), and they may appear to have the Hawks’ number in the eyes of many, let’s take a little bit of a closer look at those games.

Game 1 was near the beginning of the season. It was a tight game – the Blues took the lead twice, both times in the second, then took penalties very shortly after each time, and the Hawks capitalized on them quickly. The Blues won when Seabrook made one bad decision in the final minute, allowing the Blues to score with 17 seconds left. Had there been a couple more minutes, the Hawks may have tied it up just like they had previously, but they didn’t have any time. Blues win.

Game 2 was a week or so after that. Blues won in OT, similar game to the first game.

Game 3 was a high scoring affair, near the end of December. Hawks gave up two two goal leads, then lost in a shootout. A third one goal game. Not even relevant, though, because it was won in a shootout, which doesn’t exist in the playoffs. This one gets thrown out.

Game 4 was about three weeks ago. This time, the Blues had new goaltender Ryan Miller. The Hawks won 4-0. The first “decisive” win in this season series, and the Hawks won it.

Game 5 was last Sunday. Hawks win 4-2. More closely contested than game 4, yes, but still one of only two “decisive” victories in the series.

So, only two decisive victories in this series, and both went to the Hawks. So, there’s no reason the Hawks can’t win this series. With the Blues having a couple injuries at the moment, and going on a downward spiral at the moment, and the Hawks getting back Toews and Kane and having a fire lit under them – as long as goaltending and special teams are strong, especially the PK, and they can avoid what I’m sure will be many attempts by STL to instigate, infuriate, and injure (Those I guess are the Blues “three I’s”) the Hawks, they can win this series.

A day later, I can’t help but keep laughing at people that are mad at Undertaker lost. WWE will not “end” because the streak ended. If the only thing keeping WWE alive is the streak, they wouldn’t run all year long, and instead would run the six weeks Undertaker would be around a year.

Yes, Brock Lesnar was the wrong person for Undertaker to lose to. Yes, the build to the match was bad. Yes, the match was bad. But, Undertaker clearly wanted to lose to Lesnar, otherwise it would not have happened. The match was bad – that’s what happens when you’re 40+ and not in as good of shape as you used to be.

Obviously, the streak should have went to someone much younger – someone like Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, or the best option, Bray Wyatt. Obviously not right now, but in the future. But if last night was Taker’s “best,” then it’s only going to be worse when it would potentially be time for that match to happen.

Once again – it was Undertaker’s decision. You don’t have the right to complain that he lost – it’s his career, not yours. You can complain how it was done, but not that it was done.

Whether Undertaker’s career is over is yet to be seen. Obviously the match won’t mean as much more – preferably, I’d have him have to win every match now, and if he loses, his career is over, kind of like how they did it with Ric Flair in 2007-08.

To those who want their precious Undertaker vs. Sting match, please reconsider that. We’ve just seen that Undertaker’s not in great shape, and Sting certainly isn’t. Have you seen him in TNA at the end of 2013? You all want this match between two icons from the ’90’s, I get it. You forget it’s 2014. (2015 by the time the match would happen.) Your interpretation of that match in your mind involves them both in their prime. What you’ll get will be a crapfest like Taker vs. Lesnar. (Seriously, the divas match was better.)

If you want to complain how WWE is ruining your childhood memories, go ahead. I’m not going to stop you. That’s your choice, that’s your right. Please just keep in mind that it’s not nearly as bad as you think it is.

You’ve been complaining for eight months that Daniel Bryan is not the WWE Champion. Guess what – he defeated Triple H, and he won a triple threat match and is now the WWE Champion. Learn to be happy for once. If you want every single little thing to be perfect, you will never enjoy anything. You will just sit and try to find the next thing to complain about – about how things aren’t “as good as they used to be.” “IT’S NOT AS GOOD AS THE ATTITUDE ERA ZOMG!”

I’m so tired of butthurt attitude era marks. I’m so glad I started watching when it was basically over, so I don’t have some sense of entitlement to everything being over the top and if every single second isn’t the best thing in the world, than the show is terrible. How dare that one match of an otherwise amazing show be bad, or how dare they have one person win that I didn’t want to.

The attitude era is over. And I’m sick of seeing people from the past show up and all of a sudden everyone is mildly interested, because their now 40+ year old heroes are around defeating the talent that’s there busting their asses all year, just to lose to old people and look like crap because of it. If you want an example of how people from the past showing up to help the actual company goes, you look at how the Shield destroyed Kane and the New Age Outlaws in roughly three minutes at WrestleMania. Oh, I’m sorry, I bet you responded with “How could those guys I don’t even know beat KANE AND THE NEW AGE OUTLAWS?!?!1” Oh you didn’t know? The outlaws are old, and the Shield is better than anything they’ve done.

If the Streak is the only thing keeping you watching wrestling, then, tell me, how come you’re watching the show from post-WM to February? The Streak isn’t involved then, but yet, you watch anyway. Trust me, I know you do. If you’re a typical wrestling fan, you sit and complain about how bad it is, yet you watch the next week anyway. It’s how we all are. I can say the same thing. C.M. Punk is gone. I’m still watching, aren’t I? There’s more on the show than just your one guy that you back more than no other.

It’s not about the past anymore. Stop living in days of “better times,” and pay attention, and maybe you’ll find that it’s not as bad as you think it is. So what, there’s no one hitting each other with chairs and bleeding every other minute, someone driving a zamboni down the ramp the next, hanging on an Undertaker symbol, and so on. Your precious attitude era was nowhere near perfect either. Half of those “better characters” you mention were jobbers.

WWE isn’t going to end because Undertaker lost. The show was still the best WrestleMania in many years. Sure, it’s not WM17 or WM19, but it’s probably the third or fourth best one they’ve ever had – depending on if WM21’s undercard is enough to make up for its main events. Stop looking to how much “better” you think it was back then and start realizing the future isn’t nearly as bleak as you make it out to be. I’m tired of hearing about it.

Things have happened, like Chris Benoit. WWE is never going back to how you remembered it. If you start caring about the actual wrestling and not the blood, swearing, chair shots, and half naked chicks (I mean, that’s what the attitude era basically was), you might find things aren’t THAT bad. At least not as bad as you think it is.

It’s not perfect, I understand that. It’s also never going to be, which is what you need to understand. You’re going to have to realize that WWE’s audience isn’t ONLY you. There are millions of other fans who watch this show. I guarantee that if WWE catered to the needs of only one person, then that’s when you can say WWE is in the most danger of going out of business. As much as you hate John Cena, that doesn’t change how many fans he does happen to have (as dumb as we may think they are, that won’t make them go away.) As dumb as we think it is that WWE has a divas reality show, there are people who for some reason will watch it. I don’t understand it, but they do exist.

Stop pretending that there’s nothing good going on in WWE. Stop pretending there aren’t any good wrestlers. I shouldn’t have to point in the general direction of Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, Cesaro, The Shield, The Wyatt Family, Damien Sandow, Cody Rhodes, The Usos, A.J. Lee, Paige (New Divas Champion!), Emma, Sami Zayn, The Ascension, Adam Rose, Corey Graves, etc., but I will if I have to.

As much as I like to complain about some things sometimes, it still needs to be said. There’s nothing wrong with voicing your opinion when something is wrong, but when they give you a WrestleMania that was otherwise gold, don’t complain about the one thing that was bad. It isn’t your decision what Undertaker wants to do. The streak is over, Undertaker’s legacy lives on. The longer the streak would go on, the more his matches would turn into bore-fests. DO YOU WANT TO SIT THROUGH YOUR EVERLASTING HERO STINKING UP THE GRANDEST STAGE? I didn’t think so. If you want to keep complaining about it, go complain to Undertaker himself and see what he thinks. Just try not to sound too butthurt.

I’m trying to find words right now. I’m not sure where things go from here.

We now live in a world where Undertaker’s lost at WrestleMania. What is life? I’m going to let you all take that one in for a moment.

It’s hard to come up with things to say outside of “Look at all the butthurt attitude era fans!!!!!” right now. Honestly, I’m just numb to it. Really – I should care, but I really don’t. It wasn’t right, but I choose not to be super angry about it. I don’t have to be angry just because everyone else is. Sorry.

My mind is blown right now, though. This review is already struggling because of it.

The preshow match was a Fatal 4 Way Elimination Tag Team Match with the Usos defending the WWE World Tag Team Championship against the Real Americans, Rybaxel, and Los Matadores. This match doesn’t get a rating due to it being on the preshow, but it was a very fun match. Making it an elimination match was even better. It was fun, and the only thing that disappointed me was the lack of a Cesaro Swing until I realized the Real Americans were going to split, and he swung Swagger.

The opening of the show saw Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold, and The Rock in the ring together for about twenty minutes. It was fun.

The first match was Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H, winner gets into the WWE title match. This match was really good. The storytelling was great, with Triple H going after Bryan’s injured shoulder. A lot of offense targeted at it, as there should have been. The only real problem I have was that there wasn’t really a time that I thought Triple H would actually win, no matter how much he did, but oh well. Great match, and to no surprise, Triple H attacks Bryan after the match is over.

Rating: ****

The next match was the Shield vs. Kane and the New Age Outlaws, in probably the best two to three minute match I’ve seen (barring money in the bank cash ins). The Shield destroyed them and that’s what it should’ve been. As much as I’d have loved to see the Shield wrestle for a lot longer, I wouldn’t want to see them struggle against old guys. That double powerbomb on the Outlaws was sweet, too.

Rating: **1/2 (Not a great rating, but will still count positively towards show.)

Next was the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. This match was fun, and I loved seeing Cesaro end up in this match after thinking he was stuck on the preshow. Now I can say that he’s had a match at Mania legitimately. Kofi’s ridiculous save was ridiculous – I thought it was a botch, actually. I thought he was supposed to land on the stairs standing, then he fell, but his feet stayed on the steps, so he stayed in. LOL. I was disappointed that Dolph was eliminated by Del Rio – the bane of his more recent career. But then everything was good again when Cesaro legitimately body slammed Big Show over the top rope to win the match! Cesaro is the fucking man.

Next was Bray Wyatt vs. John Cena. First off, Wyatt’s entrance was freaking epic. (Watch it before it’s gone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erb18reor28) It was weird to see Wyatt with a ridiculously awesome entrance, and Cena with a completely normal entrance. It’s normally the other way around. This match was great. Obviously it wasn’t as awesome as Wyatt vs. Bryan, but it was still very enjoyable. Loved seeing the crowd be so behind Wyatt, even though it’s pretty normal considering who he’s against. Found the Spider Walk happening to confuse Cena out of the Five Knuckle Shuffle hilarious. Random sing along was funny too. Even though Cena won, was good to see Wyatt at least kick out of an AA and get out of the STF. Him trying to get Cena to “finish him” with a chair was also good storytelling, and Cena not doing it added to it. As much as I would’ve loved Bray to win, I think I know why he did, and I think Cena will end up putting him over in the future. Though – I know the Rock always goes and kisses his mom in the audience every time he’s there, but – why is Cena hugging the Rock’s mom??

Rating: ***1/2

Ladies and gentlemen, this was a really weird show at times. So weird, that there’s now a French Announce Table. You heard me right. A French Announce Table. NOW THEY WON’T KNOW WHICH ONE TO GO THROUGH FIRST!!!!

And now, for everyone’s main problem with the show. Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar. We’ve established Undertaker lost. We’ve established in the preview that the build was terrible. And to top it off, the match was pretty bad. I was not entertained. I was just waiting for it to end. And when Brock won, the only reaction was: What? Did that just happen? It almost seemed like it was a screwup, but it wasn’t. Just about five minutes of shocked faces. Everyone’s hating this. Me? I don’t like it, but I’m not pissed like most everyone seems to. What I don’t like is that it was to someone who shouldn’t have done it, the build was bad, and the match was bad. If this was going to be the end, they should’ve built it way better. I almost think it was a last minute change, in all honesty. I really do think Wyatt was supposed to win, but since Taker went on to lose, they decided to have Cena go over for fear of some kind of riot if the amount of face wins was off, or something. (Even though a Cena win isn’t something that will fix that, they still think it would. But meh.) It’s wrong, and there are better choices, but I’m guessing Taker must be done if he’s putting someone over at Mania. And keep in mind, Taker probably chose to lose – it probably wasn’t WWE’s decision alone. And if it’s Taker’s idea, can you really complain? It’s his career. He can do what he wants with it. If he wants to put over Lesnar, that’s his choice. I know that doesn’t take away from how bad the build and the match was, but keep that in mind when you go bitch about the company.

Rating: **

Next was A.J. defending her WWE Second Rate Women’s Championship against every diva. Obviously this wasn’t wonderful or anything, and it started off like people expected with lots of bad, but as it went on I think it got better. Once they started having just a couple people in at a time, it was ok. AND A.J. KEPT HER RIGHTFULLY DESERVED TITLE. HA. HA. HA. #TapTapTap And she made Naomi tap legitimately by holding her hand and forcing her to, it was hilarious.

Rating: ** (Positive effect on the show.)

And finally, the main event of Randy Orton (Liked seeing his theme played live too, if only he had Burn in My Light played live at 22 when I was there) defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Batista and Daniel Bryan. This match was really good – it started off a little slowly, but it eventually started to pick up. Glad to see Triple H get sledgehammered by Bryan when he interfered again, including the screwy ref from Battleground (Scott Armstrong.) And then, that Batista Bomb-RKO combo on Bryan through the Spanish Announce table looked freaking badass. The crazy thing was, while Bryan was stretchered off for a bit, Orton went through the table too and fell back first onto the monitor. That had to freaking hurt. You’ve got to respect Orton for that. Orton and Batista face off for a while, until Bryan gets back into the match. There was one moment where I thought Orton would retain after he RKO’ed Batista after Bryan being thrown outside, but Batista kicked out. Bryan got the knee to the face on Orton but Batista stopped it. Both of them got a Yes lock but they each other out of it. Then, Batista hits a Batista Bomb on Orton, then gets a Knee to the face and taps to the Yes Lock (I think that was the order – if it’s not, I apologize), and DANIEL BRYAN IS FINALLY THE WWE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION!!!! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlSa05Arob8)

Rating: ****

Overall, this show was amazing outside of Undertaker losing. And really, it’s hard for me to be that pissed off about it – the rest of the show was great – just because one person who never loses lost doesn’t mean the show is utter garbage. The match was bad, and that’s the only real blemish on this show. If the build to the match was better, and the match wasn’t bad, this show would be the closest thing to the proverbial five out of five that’s happened since who knows when. But considering I don’t even have WM17 as a five, this clearly isn’t either. It’s not better than WM17 or WM19. But it IS the best WM since at least 24, like I said it was going to be. Honestly, maybe even before that. It’s in my top 5 now, maybe top 3. This was amazing, and you should go watch it if you haven’t – and try not to be butthurt about Taker losing, ok?

Fatal Four Way Elimination Tag Team Match for the WWE World Tag Team Championship
(c) The Usos (c) vs. The Real Americans (Cesaro and Jack Swagger) vs. Los Matadores vs. Ryback and Curtis Axel
My Winners: The Usos or The Real Americans
Probable Winners: The Usos
Winners, and still the WWE World Tag Team Champions, The Usos

Well, WrestleMania 30 is finally only a couple of days away – and while it has been an unnecessarily rough road getting here, it looks like it’s at least going to be a good show. It won’t necessarily be amazing – it’s not going to be your next WrestleMania 17 or or WrestleMania 19 – not even close. But if it’s not the best WrestleMania since at least 26, potentially even 24, I’d be surprised. It’s already better than 27, and it hasn’t even happened yet. 28 was a two match show (Punk/Jericho, HIAC), and 29 was basically just Punk/Undertaker, and even THAT wasn’t amazing. 25 and 26 are both weird to rate, considering there’s some great matches on them, but there’s also complete crap on both. 24 is the last one that I believe was, outside of a terrible Batista/Umaga match, and a 9 second squash, was great.

Obviously this show isn’t perfect – it’s not close to any of the fantasy cards I’ve seen/heard floating around the internet, or created by myself. But for what it is, there’s only a few complaints that I have, but I’ll be sure to get to them as we go along.

The first match is the preshow match, which since it’s WrestleMania, I will actually talk about it. (And it shouldn’t be on the preshow anyway.) The Usos will defend their WWE World Tag Team Championship in a Fatal 4-Way against the Real Americans (Cesaro and Jack Swagger), Los Matadores, and Ryback and Curtis Axel. First, is the fact that two of the teams got this title shot because they helped Corporate Kane beat down the Shield a few weeks ago even make sense? I mean, the Shield isn’t even part of this match – “You helped me beat up these guys, so you can have a match with these guys for the titles!” Yay, logic. Anyways, the Real Americans beat the Usos the Raw before and since in today’s world, beating the champions once gets you a title shot, here we are. That aside, I’d much prefer this just be a match between the Usos and the Real Americans, because Ryback + Curtis Axel (Or Rybaxel if you have to use their dumb name) are boring trolls. Here’s a hint – the Curtis Axel experiment is over, and Ryback sure wishes it was the end of 2012 again. ALSO, why are Los Matadores (#ItsJustABullInACostume!) even in this?? They didn’t do anything at all. And the fact that their seemingly only way to win a match now is what the only way the Bella Twins can win a match is, they’ve got a problem. Usos will retain, maybe the Real Americans, but I doubt it. (Also, WHY IS CESARO ON THE PRESHOW DAMNIT!!)

Now on to the real card. Celebrate. (That wasn’t actually supposed to be a reference to the show’s theme song, but it’s there anyway.) Now that I think of it, WHY DOES WWE THINK KID ROCK IS STILL RELEVANT?? HE WASN’T EVEN RELEVANT WHEN HE PERFORMED AT WM25! (Contrary to the dvd, that ten minute performance did happen.) Anyways, I’m trying to think what the order of the matches will be, but I honestly don’t know. SO we will start with the battle royal.

1) Cody Rhodes and Goldust have done too much good work since Goldust has returned to be stuck in a battle royal they aren’t going to win. At the very least, they should be in the tag team title match, or they should be doing what everyone expected them to be doing, and what they themselves have been pushing for years, the proverbial brother vs. brother at WrestleMania match.

2) Dolph Ziggler, as much as I’d love for him to win this and get him back to a place of relevance as opposed to being constantly buried because he had the gall to say in an interview that he wouldn’t cower in fear if Randy Orton showed up behind him in a dark alley such that he lost basically every match he’s had since August; I’d much rather he have had a match on the card, perhaps against Alberto Del Rio, because their third match for the title at SummerSlam never happened. Granted it would no longer be for a title, but it would’ve still been a good thing for Dolph to beat the guy he should’ve done months ago.

3) Everyone else in this match is fine. I’m wondering who the unnamed people will be. I hope we get some people from NXT like Sami Zayn, Adam Rose, and Corey Graves. But I doubt it. The winner is going to be a heel – as always they’re pushing Big Show as the obvious favorite considering he’s tall and big and thus un-throw-outable, but then he’s going to lose anyway. My pick is Alexander Rusev considering he hasn’t done anything yet besides stand on a table.

2) Let it be known that Eva Marie is going to have a match on WrestleMania and Cesaro still will not have. Let that one sink in.

3) I’m glad that A.J. at least gets to have a match, but it should’ve been a one on one match (or maybe a triple threat). A one on one match against Natalya would’ve been best (probably), or Naomi (if she can figure out that hitting someone with your ass is not a finisher), or Tamina. Actually the best option was Emma, but she hasn’t done nearly enough to get a title shot. Better question, WHY CAN’T THIS BE AJ VS LITA? AJ VS PAIGE? (I just gave you two better matches you could’ve done, but no, we need a CLUSTERFUCK OF DOOM^TM match.) Consider the following for every good/great diva in this, there’s a terrible one to balance it out.

4) If all of them have entrances, do they even have a song for Rosa Mendes, because I’m fairly certain that everyone’s forgotten she exists. Even Rosa Mendes has forgotten.

5) The dumbest part of this match? It’s one fall. 14 chicks in the ring at once. First pinfall wins.

6) As far as the winner goes, I’m not sure. The fact that the entire divas division is now based off a stupid reality tv show that NO ONE WATCHES, and thus only the chicks on that show get any real tv time (which isn’t even a lot), coupled with the fact that A.J. – well, I was going to say dating, but apparently is now engaged to – C.M. Punk, and WWE likes to be butthurt that Punk left, so they just want to punish her for being associated with him, makes it hard to feel like A.J. has a chance of retaining. That being said, there is a chance, because a lot of times when it seems like a heel has no chance, they tend to win. At this point, A.J.’s had the Divas Title for longer than anyone else has held that belt combined, and she’s done enough for the title that I’ve bumped it up from the Third Rate Women’s Title back to the Second Rate (hasn’t been there since at least 2010. It was Third Rate, Third and a Half Rate, and Fourth Rate in recent memory), and she’s the only diva to be relevant since Mickie James was released in….2009? I just fear where she goes from there if she loses the belt – she’ll probably fall into obscurity and the divas division will implode worse than it already has. If the divas division is just going to be focused around a completely unrelated, irrelevant reality show, they may as well just scrap the division altogether. If A.J. has to lose, please give the belt to, um….uh…Emma. Give the belt to Emma. I would say Natalya, but if she blocks people on Twitter for being a fan of her opponent, then she can go to hell. Emma or Tamina. Give it to a Bella and you die. Or Eva Marie.

Anyways, now that those are over, on to more real matches.

Well, the only other non-main event is The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns #BelieveInTheShield!) against Corporate Kane and the New Age Outlaws, also known as Team Old People From the Attitude Era WWE Is Trying to Hide Behind Because Fuck Everything. In the real world, The Shield would kill these guys in like, five minutes. The Shield deserves way better than these old guys for opponents. The Shield vs. The Wyatts would’ve still been a MUCH better idea. Or, as much as I DON’T want the Shield to break up, all three of them facing each other would’ve been a way better match. The Shield is still awesome as faces, which is good, and I’m excited to see their entrance at WM. I’m sure it will be just as awesome as last year’s. I’m so happy they’re not splitting up, even though it probably would’ve been a better match if they faced each other, and WWE might be able to use the boost of using all three of them separately on shows as opposed to all at once (so there’s more good spread throughout the show.) (Also, maybe I’m the only one, but I’m disappointed that they didn’t beat the shit out of Jerry Lawler. I would’ve at the very least had given him a powerbomb anyway.) All three of them are so awesome, but I’m struggling to figure out which between Ambrose and Rollins is the best member of the Shield. Anyways, the Shield’s going to win, although it won’t be as quick as it probably should be. Again, I wish they had better opponents – I’d heard before it was Kane and the Outlaws that it was going to be Kane and the Ascension, which had literally gotten me excited, then it wasn’t them so it kind of sucked. (But hey, at least it’s not the Mean Street Posse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=248-E9AEMCg)

And now, for the four main matches of the show.

The first of which is Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar. Yes, haven’t seen this one before – totally didn’t see them in two fall programs in 2002 and 2003. Undertaker’s never beaten Brock – has that come up in the feud? *Dean Ambrose Style Nope!* There’s pretty much NO build to this, what build there is, is Undertaker kicking Brock’s ass. Brock got chokeslammed through a table after being stabbed with a pen, and got tossed from the ring a different time. Brock has gotten one F-5 in this past Monday. You see, with an Undertaker match at WrestleMania, there are very few people who seem like a legitimate threat to it. The only one right now that’s left is John Cena. In the case that the person doesn’t seem like a threat, in the build to the match, you need to MAKE him seem like a threat. WWE hasn’t built a legitimate challenger to the streak since Edge. HBK and HHH had decent builds for their second matches against Taker, but their first matches, not so much. Last year, the Punk vs. Taker build, while better than the build for Taker/Lesnar, was beyond weak. Just because Brock Lesnar is Brock Lesnar doesn’t mean that makes him a threat – he looked like a bitch ass up until this Monday. He’s a part timer. He’s not winning. If anyone’s ever going to break the streak, it’s got to be a young guy – Bray Wyatt or Dean Ambrose are my optimal choices right now. Obviously this can’t happen for a few years, though. I’m leaning more towards Wyatt because he’s the closest to an Undertaker style character in the modern era WWE has had. Anyways, the match should still be good, but there’s no reason to believe that Undertaker will lose.

Next is Bray Wyatt vs. John Cena. What’s that? A Match involving John Cena that I’m actually looking forward to?? IMPOSSIBLE! It’s amazing how you put John Cena in the midcard at WrestleMania and I’m suddenly not uninterested. This is the first time Cena’s been in a non-title, non-main event match (Read: Not the last match) at WrestleMania since – well, ever. (His first WM Match isn’t for a world title but it’s still for a title.) The build for this match has been really good once Cena learned to BE FUCKING SERIOUS. When Cena isn’t burying all of his opponents and making them look like a joke, he can at least be tolerable. I’m just thankful he didn’t say something about Husky Harris because that would’ve been ridiculous. I wish I had a playlist of all the Bray Wyatt promos leading to this, but I don’t feel like going through youtube to find them. If you told me three years ago that Husky Harris was capable of turning into Bray Wyatt, I would’ve called you a moron. I’m hoping this match turns out to be good – Cena is capable of having good matches (Punk, Bryan, Edge, Jericho, HBK), but it’s because of the guys he was facing. Wyatt’s bigger and more unorthodox than those mentioned, but I think that this will still be good. As far as who wins goes – I’m honestly not sure. There’s no question that Wyatt SHOULD win – a loss to anyone would NEVER hurt John Cena, and a win against John Cena would do A LOT for Bray Wyatt. They’ve been building Wyatt up well, with the wins over Daniel Bryan, the Wyatts defeating the Shield, and a win over Cena would solidify him as, well, not necessarily a top guy, would it would go a long way. I will never count Cena out, because there’s always the Cena factor, but I think Wyatt will win. Also I’m excited to see Wyatt’s entrance because his theme is rumored to be getting played live, and it will be awesome. #FollowTheBuzzards #WalkWithTheReapers

And the final two matches have kind of got to be talked about together, considering the winner of one will get into the title match. The first match is Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H, and the winner of that will be placed into the WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match with Randy Orton and Batista. Finally, build to the WrestleMania main event that actually makes sense! Or, at least, some. Obviously the road to Daniel Bryan winning the WWE Title at WrestleMania is has been a lot tougher than it needed to be. He should’ve simply won the Rumble and then the title. But, since WWE is DUMB, they allowed Batista to come back to WWE to THUNDEROUS SILENCE, and win the Rumble, and had Bryan lose in the chamber. Also in this, WWE basically made C.M. Punk walk out, because of that kind of bullshit, and not being happy with his own direction. Instead of C.M. Punk vs. Triple H, they decided Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H was a good idea because Triple H can’t just stop. Oh well, Bryan vs. Triple H makes perfect sense anyway. The feud has been basically happening since August – when was the last time we went into Mania with a feud that’s been building for THAT long? Um…Uh….(Don’t give me Rock/Cena, that doesn’t count.) I don’t have an answer. Bryan vs. HHH should be great – for the most part, it’s pretty obvious that Bryan will win and get into the main event – it’s still kind of predictable this year, but it’s predictable in a good way. That said, it’s not impossible Triple H will win, but then they’re main event would be heel vs. heel vs. heel and thus completely stupid. As far as the title match itself is concerned – well, Orton sure isn’t winning. I’ll give Batista a chance to win just because Marvel could’ve paid WWE to make him win the Rumble and the title at WM to promote his stupid movie. But considering WWE was smart enough to change their main event from Batista vs. Randy Orton (which would’ve BOMBED TERRIBLY. Think Orton vs. Cena Royal Rumble match only with 70,000 fans and not 20,000). Part of me wanted to see that just to see the crowd reaction. Oh well. Bryan’s going to win this – if they were just going to have him in the match to have him lose again, then what’s the point of the entire past eight months?? It’s time WWE puts the title on the person who has gotten the loudest crowd reactions this side of Stone Cold (as well as C.M. Punk). There’s also a possibility that Triple H is part of the title match but Bryan will win the belt regardless.

Also, Hulk Hogan is the guest host of WM. He hasn’t taken up too much time on Raw and hasn’t bothered me, so his existence isn’t a problem.

Well, that’s about it for the predictions. It should be a good show. I fully expect it to be the best one since 26, maybe 24. Without completely changing the card, the only things that would make this better would be to A) Still have a C.M. Punk, B) Have the Shield face each other (or better opponents), C) Have Cody Rhodes and Goldust face each other, D) Have A.J. have a normal match with one of the divas I mentioned, and E), Have Dolph vs. Del Rio maybe. Review on Sunday as always.